Year 3 English: Apostrophes for more than one owner
Part of the Year 3 English punctuation chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page
Apostrophes for more than one owner
Sometimes the owner is more than one person or animal. Then the apostrophe goes in a different place.
If the plural owner ends in s, the apostrophe goes after the s: the girls' rooms means the rooms of more than one girl.
If the plural owner does not end in s, add apostrophe and s: the children's toys.
| Owner | One owner | More than one owner |
|---|---|---|
| boy / boys | the boy's bike | the boys' bikes |
| child / children | the child's toy | the children's toys |
Key ideas
- For a plural owner that ends in s, put the apostrophe after the s.
- For a plural owner that does not end in s, add apostrophe and s.
- Check how many owners there are before you choose where the apostrophe goes.
- Girls' and girl's sound the same when read aloud, so the spelling shows how many owners there are.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the girls
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the rooms
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s.the girls' rooms
- Write the answer. the girls' rooms
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the girls' rooms. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the children
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the toys
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word does not end in s, so add apostrophe and s.the children's toys
- Write the answer. the children's toys
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the children's toys. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Ask how many owners there are, then put the apostrophe in the right place.
- Think about how many owners there are. The meaning is: two boys.two boys
- Choose the word with the apostrophe in the right place. One owner: the apostrophe goes before the s. More than one owner that ends in s: the apostrophe goes after the s.the boys' bikes
- Write the answer. the boys' bikes
Check. the boys' bikes shows the owner correctly. ✓
Watch out. Ask how many owners there are first.
Watch out
Watch out: the boy's bikes means the bikes of one boy. The boys' bikes means the bikes of more than one boy. Count the owners first.
Exam tip
Grown-up tip. Ask: how many owners are there? If there is more than one, does the owner word end in s? If it does, the apostrophe goes after the s.
For the dictation question, read these words aloud twice, with a pause where the marks go: put on your coats, said Dad, because it is cold. Your child writes the sentence from memory, with inverted commas and all the other punctuation.
Exercise 5G Practice: an apostrophe for more than one owner
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the men
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the hats
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word does not end in s, so add apostrophe and s.the men's hats
- Write the answer. the men's hats
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the men's hats. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the dogs
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the bowls
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s.the dogs' bowls
- Write the answer. the dogs' bowls
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the dogs' bowls. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the children
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the boots
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word does not end in s, so add apostrophe and s.the children's boots
- Write the answer. the children's boots
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the children's boots. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the boys
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the coats
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s.the boys' coats
- Write the answer. the boys' coats
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the boys' coats. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Ask how many owners there are, then put the apostrophe in the right place.
- Think about how many owners there are. The meaning is: more than one girl.more than one girl
- Choose the word with the apostrophe in the right place. One owner: the apostrophe goes before the s. More than one owner that ends in s: the apostrophe goes after the s.the girls' bags
- Write the answer. the girls' bags
Check. the girls' bags shows the owner correctly. ✓
Watch out. Ask how many owners there are first.
Method. More than one baby owns the toys, and babies ends in s.
- Find the owners. More than one baby owns the toys.the babies
- Add the apostrophe. The plural owner ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s.babies' toys
- Check the capital letter. The sentence starts with a capital letter.The babies' toys are in the cot.
- Write the answer. The babies' toys are in the cot.
Check. More than one baby owns the toys. ✓
Watch out. Do not write babies's. The apostrophe comes after the s.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the boys
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the lunches
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. More than one owner, and the owner word ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s.the boys' lunches
- Write the answer. the boys' lunches
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the boys' lunches. ✓
Watch out. Put the owner first. Ask how many owners there are before you choose the apostrophe.
Method. Put the owner first, then the thing, and add the apostrophe to the owner.
- Find the owner. The owner is the one who has the thing.the man
- Find the thing that is owned. The thing belongs to the owner.the coat
- Add the apostrophe to the owner. One owner, so add apostrophe and s after the owner.the man's coat
- Write the answer. the man's coat
Check. The owner comes first, with the apostrophe: the man's coat. ✓
Watch out. Put the apostrophe before the s for one owner: the dog's bone, not the dogs bone.
Method. Hold the spoken words in your memory, and notice where the pauses are.
- Write the spoken words. The first part of the speech is Put on your coats. The second part is because it is cold.Put on your coats / because it is cold
- Add the reporting clause. Said Dad sits between the two parts of the speech.said Dad
- Add the punctuation. Inverted commas go round each part. A comma goes inside the first part's closing marks."Put on your coats," said Dad, "because it is cold."
- Write the answer. "Put on your coats," said Dad, "because it is cold."
Check. Read it aloud and check the commas and inverted commas. ✓
Watch out. Grown-up: read the sentence aloud twice, pausing after each comma.
Method. One girl owns the dress.
- Find the owner. One girl owns the dress.the girl
- Add the apostrophe and s. One owner: the apostrophe goes before the s.girl's dress
- Add a capital letter. The sentence starts with a capital letter.The girl's dress is pink.
- Write the answer. The girl's dress is pink.
Check. One girl owns the dress. ✓
Watch out. Keep the owner first, then the thing.
Method. Look at the end of each plural owner.
- Look at girls. Girls ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s.girls' rooms
- Look at children. Children does not end in s, so we add apostrophe and s.children's toys
- Write the answer. Girls is a plural that ends in s, so the apostrophe goes after the s. Children does not end in s, so we add apostrophe and s.
Check. Look at the plural owner each time. ✓
Watch out. Also accept: an answer that says the plural girls ends in s and children does not.